~ Researching Russell Co, Kentucky

Monthly Archives: July 2016

Last week, while doing some research, I decided to go back over the list of FamilySearch microfilms that I have put on indefinite loan to have access to at my library whenever I want. There was 1 roll of Mercer County deeds that I was hoping was on the list, but it was not. So I went to the FamilySearch site to look up the film number. While on the site, I noticed new icons that I’ve never noticed before. Some listings have small film roll icons which mean that a microfilm is available, but others have small cameras. So what happens when you click on a camera? You will see all of the images are available to view online!

So what kind of records can you find? Let me give you a taste of what’s available for Mercer County, Kentucky:

This is a phenomenal resource that’s available right from home! Any day, any time of day – not just when my library is open! Available for quick look-ups or all-day research sessions without packing up my stuff and driving to the library! Quick downloads directly to my computer instead of time spent scanning…this is genealogy heaven!

I’m not sure how they determine which films will be put online, but I was shocked at the number for Mercer County! Not quite as many for Russell County, but not a bad little list. It seems, the earliest films are being scanned first – which is good for me because I’m not interested in much beyond 1830. And I’m assuming that this is a work in process, so I’ll be checking back often.

So if you’d like to see what available for your research, click here and enter your location and take a look! Hopefully, you’ll be doing a genealogy happy dance too!

I’m working my way through early tax lists and I keep seeing this abbreviation in the Water Course column. It looks like War.* or Was.* with a symbol after it similar to a symbol to abbreviate Edw* or Rob*. It doesn’t appear on all water courses, as you can see at the top of this image, but it does appear a lot. Any guesses?

Update: Here is another image. Same County, same year, different commissioner’s list.

I haven’t been able to spend time at the Allen County Public Library in awhile, but I’ve had a couple of days recently to come in again and there have been some updates in the microfilm room. In the past, the room was huge with many rows of microfilm readers and about 10 scanners. When I came this time, I was surprised to find that the room has been divided in half, which I think is excellent because I just never saw that many of the readers being used at the same time. I believe the non-microfilm portion is being used for classes, but I could be wrong. The sign says “Discovery Center”.

Now there are 22 readers and 8 scanners which I believe are the same scanners that have been here for quite awhile. But there are 2 new scanners which are AWESOME! The camera takes the entire image at once. No more waiting for the camera to pass over the film once for a preview then again for the scan itself. And the image is wonderfully clear!

You have the option of sending your scans to your email, Google Drive, or Dropbox in addition to your flash drive. Printing is also available (still for free, which I find incredible!) You also have the ability to name each file while scanning and can name the folder you are saving to on your flash drive. In the past, I would try to keep a list of what I was scanning and then rename everything once I got home.

While the scanner takes place in a flash, the saving process can take quite awhile if you choose to save in a larger file size. After doing a few experiments, I’ve decided that the default setting (300 dpi) looks wonderful enough to use without changing anything and saving at that size is pretty quick. When I scanned my first 4 images, I chose 1200 dpi and saving took close to 20 minutes! If I think a scan will be difficult to read due to scratches or fading and I know I’ll want to really zoom in on something, I’m changing the setting to 600 dpi, but that significantly changes the saving time. In fact, I’m writing this as I wait for 10 images to save at a 900 dpi setting. But if I can finally make out what those lines are saying, it’s time well spent!